Question for the Aussies... Why is it called Oz?

[john]

I don't quite get the connection?

[Twisted]

Aussie = alternate spelling Ozzy. Shortened = Oz.

Ozzy is how you Americans are supposed to say Aussie. (like Ozzy Osbourne) not Ossy like I hear on American news programs all the time 

Same goes for our famous large bird the Emu. Its pronounced Eeem-you not Eee-moo 

[Janx101]

Oh.... I thought the famous large 'bird' was dame Edna ! 

[Watcher]

I always pronounced it "Aw-stray-lee-ah" and so "aw-see".

Far be it from me to tell a peoples how to pronounce themselves, so Ozzy it is from now on. 


Accent really does play a major role in pronunciation, so you can't rightly blame anyone.  I pronounce Honda "Hahn-duh".  I've heard Britains pronounce it "Hawn-dah".  Which is right?  Only the man who has the name can say.

Like, we've all seen .gif file extensions, right?  How is it pronounced?  G like "Guss" and "if" makes "gif", right?  Nope.  According to the person who developed the format, it's a "jif"...  Like the peanut-butter.

The famous American M1-Garand rifle.  "Gah-rand", right?  Nope.  "Gare-and" like the word "errand" with a G in front.

[Janx101]

Jif eh? ... I've always said the guss one... Was he French? Lol

Honda ... Hon like Bon .. Hon Duh!

A gerrand? ... Sounds like a Nz'er bro!

Some others ...

Nissan ... I say it like piss ... Niss -un ... Heard a lot of Yankees say nee-sarn though..

Ostrich ... Short O like orange .. Rest of it like fridge kinda  ...O- Strij

Heard a hell funny one on QI (British panel/talking heads/comedy?) show .. one night

Something like this ... "If I was in Malaysia or nearby ... And someone offered me Oleng Tsu .... What would I receive if I said yes?" ...... After some deliberation it was revealed.... (Found the YT vid! ... About 3:25 but the whole thing is amusing)

[codajastal]

This will answer all your questions about Aissie/Oz/Ozzie Slang

http://www.byronit.com/slang.htm


And if you are really bored here is some more below

[codajastal]

Aussie Glossary

Aussie Words   Definitions   Comments
a over t   Arse over tit, head over heels   
A'sia   Australasia (Australia plus New Zealand)   
abo   Derogatory slang for Aborigine   
act   Pretending to be something you're not   
aerial pingpong   Australian Rules football   
agates   Testicles   
aggro   Aggressive   
alf   Stupid person   
alligator   Freshwater crocodile   (So those early pommies were no naturalists!)
amber fluid   Beer   
ankle biter   Small child   
antipodes   Places on exactly opposite sides of the earth   
ANZAC   Soldier from Australia New Zealand Army Corps   
apple eater   Resident of Tasmania   
apples, she'll be   It'll be alright   
arvo   Afternoon   
Aussie (pronounced "ozzie")   Australian   
Aussie salute   Brushing away flies with the hand   
avagoyermug   Traditional rallying call, often heard at cricket matches (contraction of "Have   
avos   Avocados   
award wage   Minimum pay rate   
B & S   Bachelors and Spinsters Ball - a dance cum piss-up   Sorry, the perils of a Latin education (cum = with, in Latin)
B-bows   (Old fashioned) hand shears   The spring between the 2 blades is shaped like a letter B
back of beyond   Far away in the outback   
back of Bourke   The middle of nowhere   
backblocks   The remote interior of the country   
bag   Lady who is not particularly pleasant   
bail (somebody) up   To corner somebody physically   
bail out   Depart, usually angrily   
bail up   Hold up, rob, earbash   Comes from dairy farming - 'crushing' cows for milking
ball-tearer   Wonderful thing   
banana bender   Resident of Queensland   
bandicoot   Australian marsupial - pointy nose, size of large rat   Adoption of Indian (Telegu) word 'pandikokku' = 'pig-rat' = bandicota indica
barbie (barbecue)   Like a cook out   Spanish origin, 'barbacoa, from Arawak language
Barcoo   Far outback (Barcoo R. region of western Queensland)   
barney   Fight or scuffle   
barrack   To cheer on a team at a sporting event   Can also mean: banter, provocative or derisive language - cognate ... but to ... not derived from borak?
bastard   General form of address which can mean practically anything from highest praise   
bathers   Swimming costume (Victoria and South Australia)   
battler   Hard trier, struggler   
bear   Colonial era: (native) bear = koala   Koala is a marsupial, not a bear
beaut, beauty, bewdie   Very good   
belt up!   Shut up!   
berko   Angry   
bible basher   Minister, or any proselytising Christian   
bickie   Dollar   
big mobs   Large amount, heaps   
big-note oneself   Brag, boast   
bikies   Motorcyclists   
bikkie   Biscuit (also "it cost big bikkies" - it was expensive)   
billabong   An ox-bow river or watering hole   East coast Aboriginal languages = dead water
billy   Large tin can used to boil water over a campfire for tea   
bities   Biting insects   
bitumen   Surfaced road   
bitzer   Mongrel dog (bits of this and bits of that)   
bizzo   Business ("mind your own bizzo")   
black stump, beyond the   A long way away, the back of nowhere   
black velvet   (Originally illicit) relations of white male and black female   
block   Block has a few meanings but the more Aussie one is your head   
bloke   Person, usually a male   
bloody   All-purpose intensifying adjective   
bloody oath!   That's certainly true   
blooming   Low level intensive (not quite bloody!)   
blow in the bag   Have a breathalyzer test   
blowie   Blow fly   
bludge   Not doing anything or getting things from others   
bludger   Lazy person   
blue   A fight   
blue a cheque   Spend your wages in a glorious booze-up (NOT = blew!)   Thus "Blued his cheque" not "Blew his cheque"
blue, make a   Make a mistake   
bluey   A swag, blanket roll   Army blankets were grey-blue wool
bluey   Blue cattle dog (named after its subtle markings)   
bluey   Traffic ticket or redhead person   
board   The timber floor on which sheep are shorn in a shearing shed   
bodgy   Of inferior quality   This is from earlier word 'bodger' - self-employed woodworker
bonzer   Great, ripper   
boobook   Australian bird - ninox novaeseelaniae - in the owl family, but more like a stur   
boogie board   A hybrid, half-sized surf board   
boomer   Very large; a particularly large male kangaroo   
boomerang   Curved flat wooden instrument used by Aborigines for hunting   Throwing stick: hunting boomerangs don't return. Returning type a thrown to scare birds down to the ground where they are caught.
booze   Alcohol, usually beer   
booze bus   Police vehicle used for catching drunk drivers   
boozer   A pub   Also a drinker
borak   (Borack, borax) nonsense, emphatic negation   Pidgin, from Wathwurung burag ... not from barrack...?
bored shitless   Very bored   
boss of the board   Shearing contractor or supervisor   
bottle shop   Liquor shop   
bottle-o   Liquor shop   Also a dealer in second hand bottles
bottler   Something excellent   
bottling, his blood's worth   He's an excellent, helpful bloke   
bowyang (boyang)   Cord, thong or strap round trouser leg, below knee   Brit. Dialect 'booyang'
brass razoo, he hasn't got a   He's very poor   
breaker   Specialist horse tamer/trainer   Pen-name of poet Harry 'Breaker' Morant
brekkie   Breakfast   
brick shaZam! house, built like a   Big strong bloke   
brizzie   Brisbane, state capital of Queensland   
brolga   Australian native crane - elaborate courtship dance resemble 'quadrille', square   
brown-eyed mullet   A turd in the sea (where you're swimming!)   
brownie (browny)   Sweetened currant bread - a 'bush' treat   
brumby   A wild horse   
buck's night   Stag party, male gathering the night before the wedding   
Buckley's   No chance at all   
Buckley's, Buckley's chance   No chance ("New Zealand stands Buckley's of beating Australia at football")   
bug (Moreton Bay bug)   Small crab   
bull bar   Stout bar fixed to the front of a vehicle to protect it against hitting kangaroo   Or bulls!
bull dust   Fine and sometimes deep dust on outback roads   
bullamanka   Imaginary place even beyond back of Bourke, way beyond the black stump   
bullock   Ox   A castrated bull used as a draught animal
bullocky, bullockie   Bullock driver - carter operating with a team of bullocks and a dray   
bun in the oven   Pregnant   
bundy   Short for Bundaberg, Queensland, and the brand of rum that's made there   
bung   Crook, broken   Eastern Aboriginal = dead
bunny   Rabbit, a mug, a swindler's victim   3rd sense cognate with 18th c. London sense of 'coney'
bunyip   Mythical outback creature   Inhabits swamps and billabongs
burl   Have a try, as in "give it a burl"   Scots dialect: burl = twirl, spin ... Aussie usage via two-up call 'give it a burl' = have a bet, chance your arm
bush   Somewhere in the country or away from the city   It's all either "Sydney ... or the bush"
bush telegraph   Gossip network   
bush tucker   Native foods, usually in the outback   
bushbash   Force one's way through pathless bush   
bushie   Someone who lives in the Bush   
bushranger   Highwayman, outlaw   Originally (c. 1788) a 'trusty' convict given a gun and told to go an shoot something for food .. Oddly enough, a lot of them did not come back - at least until they ran out of powder and shot!
bushwhacker   Someone living rough in the Bush   Not an ambusher - the US sense
butcher's   To look   
BYO   Bring Your Own (booze to a restaurant, meat to a barbecue, etc   
caaarn!   Traditional rallying cry at football games (contraction of "Come on!")   
cabbage tree hat   Hat sewn from coil of plaited cabbage tree palm leaf   Proverbially tough and long-lasting ... very expensive ... the badge of the native-born colonial
camp oven   Large, cast-iron pot with a lid, for cooking on an open fire   
Captain Cook   To have a look   
cark it   To die, cease functioning   
cask   Wine box   Australian "invention" - first ones were a collapsing sack inside a tinplate cylinder painted with a cask stave pattern (c. 1966/7?)
cheque   Payment for the season's/job's work (US 'check')   
chiko roll   Australian junk food   
choke a darkie   Defecate   
chokkie   Chocolate   
chook   A chicken (adult domestic fowl / hen)   
chrissie   Christmas   
Christmas   See Bourke Street   
chuck a sickie   Take the day off sick from work when you're perfectly healthy   
chuck a u-ey   Make a U-turn   
chunder   Vomit, drive the porcelain bus, kerbside quiche, pavement pizza, liquid laugh, r   
clay pan   Dry salt lake bed   
Clayton's   Fake, substitute   
cleanskin   Unbranded cattle   
click   Kilometre - "it's 10 clicks away"   
cliner   Girlfriend of a city larrikin, c. 1900   (from German 'kleine')
clip   Entirety of the season's wool shorn from sheep   
clobber   Clothes; to hit   
cobber   Friend   
cobbler   Tough, old, wrinkled sheep you shear last (if at all) / the last sheep in a run   Cobblers' last - sort of rhyming slang
cockie   Farmer   
cockroach   A person from New South Wales   
cocky   Small-scale farmer   Earlier: 'cockatoo farmer'
coldie   A beer   
colonial experience man   (Usually) English apprentice grazier - working for keep, but learning the coloni   
combo   White man cohabiting with Aboriginal woman   (Illegal, in early 20th c., under "Native Protection Act")
come a gutser   Make a bad mistake, have an accident   
come good   Turn out all right   
compo   Workers' Compensation pay   
conk   To hit someone (archaic)   
cooee   Bush greeting   
cooee, not within   Figuratively a long way away, far off - England weren't within cooee of beating   
coolabah   Type of box eucalyptus tree   Not actually providing much shade (Paterson's irony)
coolgardie safe   Box for storing perishable foods, cooled by non-mechanical evaporation   
copper   Policeman   
cornstalk   (Old - colonial period) name for New South Wales resident - refers to height of   
corroboree   Aboriginal meeting, with ceremonial dancing   
counter lunch   Pub lunch   
counter meal, countery   Pub meal   
cove   The boss of a station (~ ranch) - the cove in charge ...   A bit more polite than the Cockney sense of 'rogue'
cow   Also means anything that is difficult   
cow cocky   Small-scale cattle farmer   
cozzie   Swimming costume (New South Wales)   
cradle (noun & verb)   (wash auriferous soil in) riffled tub on curved feet to separate out the gold   
cranky   In a bad mood, angry   Varies state to state + means 'crazy', 'eccentric' in Tasmania
cream (verb)   Defeat by a large margin   
creek   A (usually) seasonal watercourse   Not the Scots sense of a bay or inlet on a coast - close to the US sense
crook   Ill, badly made, substandard   
crow eater   A person from South Australia   
cut lunch   Sandwiches   
cut snake, mad as a   Very angry   
dag   A funny person, nerd, goof   
dag, daggy   Dirty lump of wool at the back end of a sheep, also an affectionate or mildly ab   
daks   Trousers   
damper   Bush loaf made from flour and water cooked in a camp oven   
Darling pea   Staggers (usually the stock) from eating poisonous plant   Appears in 'All For My Grog'
dead horse   Tomato sauce   
deadset   True, the truth   
deli   Delicatessen   
demon   Policeman, detective   Originally a Tasmanian (Vandemonian) ex-convict recruited into the colonial police force
dero   Tramp, hobo, homeless person (from "derelict")   
didgeridoo   Cylindrical musical instrument played usually by Aboriginal men   Women are forbidden to play didge in Aboriginal culture because the muscular contractions of playing can cause abortion ... !
digger   A soldier - typically from Australia or New Zealand   Term is a goldrush legacy
dill   Idiot   
dillybag   Small bag to carry things   
dingo   Australian native dog, (tranf.) an untrustworthy person or coward   
dinkum, fair dinkum   Genuine or honest   
dinky-di   The real thing, genuine   
dipstick   A loser, idiot   
divvy van   Police divisional van   
do your nana   Lose your rag, spit the dummy, lose your temper   
dob (somebody) in   Inform on somebody   
docket   A bill, receipt   
doco   Documentary   
dog   Unattractive woman   
dole bludger   Somebody on social assistance when unjustified   
don't come the raw prawn   Don't try to fool me   
donah   A girl, to a city larrikin, c. 1900   (from Portugese 'dona' ?)
donger   pee pee   
donk   Car or boat engine   
doodle   pee pee   
doozey   Something very pleasant   
doughboy   Flour dumpling   British dialect / navy slang
down south   The rest of Australia, according to someone north of Brisbane, Queensland   
Down Under   Australia and New Zealand   
drink with the flies   To drink alone   
drinking down the cheque   Drinking alcohol ontil all the wages have been squandered   
drive the porcelain bus   Vomit   
drongo   Worthless or stupid person   North Australian bird that flies south (towards colder regions!) in summer ...?
drover   Person driving large herds of cattle or sheep across Australia   
drum   Information, tip-off ("I'll give you the drum")   
drum (hump the)   (Carry a) swag   
Dry, the   Dry season in the north, April to November   
duco   Car paint   Brand name
duffer, cattle   Rustler   
dukies (and duchesses)   Pickpockets   Earn their living with their 'dooks'
dummy, spit the   Get very upset at something   
dungarees   Workingman's clothes/overalls   Named for a coarse Indian calico (Hindi 'dungri') ... a social indicator in colonial days
dunny   Outdoor lavatory   
dunny budgies   Blow flies   
dunny rat, cunning as a   Very cunning   
durry   Cigarette   
earbash   Non-stop talk   
eastern states   The rest of Australia, according to someone in Western Australia   
Enzedder   New zealander   
esky   Large insulated box for keeping beer cool   
evo   Evening   
ewe   Female sheep, corruption is 'yoe' or similar   
exy   Expensive   
fair crack of the whip!   Fair go!   
fair dinkum   Genuine or honest   
fair go   A chance ("give a bloke a fair go")   
fairy floss   Candy floss, cotton candy   
FIGJAM   F*ck I'm good; just ask me   
financial   To be flush with cash   
FJ   Most revered Holden car   
flake   Shark meat, used in fish and chips   
flaming   All-purpose intensifying adjective   (A safer "f" word)
flash   Very fancy, overly fashionable ('lairy')   "Flash as a rat with a gold tooth"
flat out   As fast as possible   
floater   Meat pie floating in pea soup, viewed by Australians either as a great delicacy or as a great emetic   
flog   Sell; steal   This once meant to pawn, back in the '50s/early '60s - I remember people baulking at my use of the sense steal ...
footy   Australian Rules football   
fossick   To hunt for gemstones   Or gold ... or any other mineral ...
fossicking   Searching, rummaging ("fossicking through the kitchen drawers")   
freckle   Anus   
from arsehole to breakfast   All over the place   
fruit loop   Fool   
full   Drunk   
furphy   A rumour or a false story   
g'day   A greeting   
gaffer   (Lesser) Boss ... usually a supervisor or shed boss   N. English dialect - US usage is head lighting tech on film set ... thus "gaffer tape" - specially made to hang film lights from rough surfaces
galah   Noisy parrot, thus noisy idiot   
game   Brave   
gander   Have a look   
gaol   Australian and British variant spelling of "jail"   
garbo   Garbage collector   
garbo, garbologist   Municipal garbage collector   
gibber, gibby   Stony desert (that's originally a 'gibber plain' or 'gibber country - 'gibber' i   Sydney region Aboriginal word for stone (Dharuk - 'giba')
gidgee   Rough, dry country, characterized by tough acacia scrub called gidgee   Aboriginal (Yuwaalaraay) word for 'spear wood'
give it a burl   Try it, have a go   
give it away   Give up   
goanna   Australian monitor lizard   Adaptation of S. American 'iguana'
going "troppo"   Going tropical; laid-back and fun-loving; insane   
good oil, good gits   Useful information, a good idea, the truth   Good guts?
good on ya!   Well done!   
good on you   Good for you, well done   
good possie   Advantageous position   
grazier   Large-scale sheep or cattle farmer   
greenhide   Tough, untanned leather   Equivalent to US "rawhide"
greenie   Environmentalist   
grizzle   To complain   
grog   General term for alcohol, but typically beer   Interestingly, it was originally RN term for rum, watered down to prevent sailors saving their ration up for a bender (after Admiral Grogham)
grouse   Very good, unreal   
gum sucker   Resident of Victoria   
gumtree   Eucalyptus   Smoothbarked eucalypt, not a stringybark or messmate
gun   Champion (shearer)   
Gunyah   Aboriginal temporary shelter (also gunya, guneah, gunney &c)   Aboriginal (Dharuk): 'ganya'
gutzer   Some plans don't work out or to have an accident (to come a gutzer)   
gyno   Gynaecologist   
handle   Beer glass with a handle   
hard yacka   Hard work   
hatter   Person living alone and rough in the bush - maybe crazy   "Mad as a HATTER"
heaps   A lot   
hire   To rent, as "to hire a car"   
his nibs   The boss   
homestead   Residance of a station (ranch or farm) owner or manager   
hooley   Wild party   
hooly-dooly   An expression of surprise   
hoon   Idiot, hooligan, yahoo   
hooroo   Goodbye   
hotel   Often just a pub   
hottie   Hot water bottle   
how are ya?   Standard greeting   
hq   Second most revered Holden car   
hump   To carry   
humping bluey   Carrying a swag, travelling rough and light (looking for work - or tucker)   
humpy   Temporary, makeshift dwelling (originally Aboriginal shelter, gunyah)   Aboriginal (Jagara): 'yumbi
icy pole   Popsicle, lollypop   Ice block, where I came from
identity   Celebrity   
iffy   Doubtful, questionable   
illywacker   A con man who preyed on the gullible at country shows/fairs   
in full feather   In fine health   
in yer boot!   An expression of disagreement (archaic)   
it's a goer   Something that will definitely occur   
Jack Shay (Jack Shea)   Quart pot, metal drinking vessel / container   Rhymes (to the Irish) with tea (pot)
jack-in-the-box   Person who can't sit still   
jackaroo   A male station hand (a station is a big farm/grazing property)   In station life, Jackaroo has long meant an Englishman getting 'colonial experience' (often not paid ... but ate with the magager, not the men!) [Originally, ie very early colonial, it meant a white man living beyond the boundary of settlement - possibly Aboriginal word 'dhugai-iu', (Jagara)]
jillaroo   A female station hand   
jingoes!   Exclamation of wonder   
jocks   Men's or boys' underpants   
Joe Blake   Snake (rhyming)   
Joe Bloggs   The average citizen   
joey   Baby kangaroo, still in the pouch   Originally baby possum - trans. to kangaroo, then any young marsupial ... eventually comes to mean child!
johnny cake   Small, thin, loaf of damper (bush bread)   Trans. from US flat oat cake
journo   Journalist   
jumbuck   Sheep   Probably an Aboriginal word for 'cloud' or 'mist' (a distant mob of sheep?)
jumped-up   Full of self-importance; arrogant   

[codajastal]

kanga or kangaroo   Shoe   
keen as mustard   Enthusiastic   
kelpie   Australian sheepdog originally bred from Scottish collie   Breed is descended from champion short-haired collie named 'Kelpie'
kerb   Alternative Australian and British spelling of "curb"   
kerbside quiche   Vomit   
kerfuffle   Argument   
kero   Kerosene   
kick   To share or join in   
kick-in   To provide your share   
kindie   Kindergarten   
king brown   Type of venomous snake or tall bottle of beer   
kip   Sleep or nap   
kiwi   New zealander   
knackered   Worn out, rooted   
knackers   Testicles (also love spuds, nuts, nads)   
knock   To criticise   
knock back   Refusal (noun), refuse (transitive verb)   
knocker   One who criticises   
kombi   Multi-purpose van-like vehicle, often modified so the back seats were folded dow   
koori   Aborigine (mostly south of the Murray River)   Also all of NSW (except for Yuin in south east) ... Murri -then Bama to north in Queensland - Yura, then Nunga to west, in South Australia
lair   Layabout, hooligan   
lairise   To behave in a vulgar, flamboyant manner   
lamb-brained   Stupid   
lamington   Sponge cake cut into squares, covered in chocolate and coconut   
larrikin   Ruffian or hoodlum, but viewed with some admiration   
lay-by   To put a deposit on an article so a shop will hold it   
licensed   Legally permitted to sell alcoholic drinks   
like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge   Lonely and vulnerable   
lingo   The language   
lippy   Lipstick   
liquid laugh   Vomit   
lob, lob in   Drop in to see someone ("the rellies have lobbed")   
lollies   Candy or sweets   
lolly   Money   
London to a brick   Absolute certainty ("it's London to a brick that taxes won't go down")   
loo   Lavatory or toilet   English, 19th c. (Water)loo
lot   The whole thing   
lubra   Aboriginal woman   Aboriginal word (se Tasmania) 'lubara'
lucky country, the   Australia, where else?   
lurk   Scheme, sometimes viewed with envy   
ma stater   Resident of New South Wales   
mad   Crazy (seldom means anger)   
Mallee   Remote bushland of Victoria, low scrub   
manchester   Household linen   
mate   This usually means a friend but it can be used to talk about or to anyone - even   
mate's rate, mate's discount   Cheaper than usual for a "friend"   
matey with   Familiar or friendly with   
matilda   The belongings of a swagman, wrapped in a blanket or bedroll   
meat safe   Ventilated fly-proof cage for storing meat carcasses without refrigeration   
merino   Breed of sheep with fine strands of fleece   
metho   Methylated spirits   Denatured alcohol/rubbing alcohol
Mexican   A person from south of the (Queensland) border   
mickey mouse   Excellent, very good   
middy   285 ml beer glass (New South Wales)   
milk bar   Corner general store   Not NSW usage - corner shop had to have milk licence, but a 'milk bar' was principally a (milk & soft) drink shop ... almost = US "drug store"
milko   Milkman   
mob   Family or herd (?) of kangaroos / herd of sheep or cattle   (transference ?)
mob   Group of person or things (not necessarily unruly)   
moke   Horse (not a good one!)   Original meaning was donkey
mole (native)   Platypus ... to a Pom who isn't any sort of naturalist   
moleskin(s)   Trousers of moleskin (untwilled cotton fustian fabric)   Typical sailors' wear on British sailing ships
moll   Girl(friend), disreputable girl, tart, Dona   
mongrel   Despicable person   
mopoke   Australian bird ninox novaeseelaniae - in the owl family, but more like a sturdy   
mozzie   Mosquito   
muddy   Mud crab (a great delicacy)   
mug   Friendly insult ("have a go, yer mug"), gullible person   
mug   One's face   
mull   Grass (the kind you smoke)   
mull up   Roll a joint and smoke it   
murphy   Potato   
naff   Ridiculous, useless   
nana   Banana   
nark   Spoilsport   
narked   Annoyed   
naughty, have a   Have sex   
neddies   Horses   
Never Never   The Outback, centre of Australia   
new chum   New arrival or immigrant   
nick   To steal   
nick out   Go somewhere for short period of time   
nipper   Young surf lifesaver   Also any youngster (generally male)
nit   Fool or idiot   Also nitwit
no hoper   Hopeless case   
no shortage of oscar   To be flush with money   
no worries!   Everything will be fine!   
no-hoper   Somebody who'll never do well   
nobbler   Glass or drink of liquor   
noise off   Speak loudly   
north island   Mainland Australia, according to someone in Tasmania   
northern summer   Summer in the Northern Hemisphere   
not the full quid   Not bright intellectually   
nuddy, in the   Naked   
nulla-nulla   Wooden club used by Aborigines   
num-nums   Tasty food   
ocker   Uncultivated or boorish Australian   
off-sider   Assistant or partner   
oil   Information   
old man   Large (animal) as in 'old man kangaroo ... by tranference (and pidgin use?) = large   Old Man Plain', in "Across the Western Plains", means 'the big, wide plain'.
oldies   Parents - "I'll have to ask my oldies"   
on a good lurk   To have a good job   
open slather   Without restrictions   
OS   Overseas   
outback   The bush, or uncivilised uninhabited region   
overlander   A drover, herding cattle or sheep hundreds of miles over land   
owyergoin   How are you going? Often used with "g'day" and "Mate"   
oy!   An ocker's call; hey!   
oyo   On your own (flat or apartment)   
Oz   Australia, as in Oz-tralia   
packed out   Filled to capacity   
packet   Large some of money, an envelope   
paddock   Field or meadow   In Australia, that COULD be 1000 square miles!
pademelon, paddymelon   Small (potorid) wallaby ... Aboriginal word (Dharuk - 'badimaliyan')   Confused with inedible African cucurbit, growing feral in Australia - 'Paddymelon'
pally   On friendly terms with   
paper yabber   Letter   
parcel   Package   
pash   Passion, infatuation   
pastoralist   Large-scale grazier   
patent pill machine   Revolver   Image goes back to loading a cap-and-ball revolver
pav   Pavlova - a rich, creamy Australian dessert   
pavement pizza   Vomit   
pavlova   Traditional Australian meringue and cream dessert, named after Russian ballerina   
pearler   Excellent   (Purler?)
peel   Shear (a sheep)   "Peel the wooly overcoats of those monkeys!)
peeler   policeman   (Anglo-Irish, from Sir Rober Peel)
pen   Shearing position or job (= 'stand')   
perve (noun & verb)   Looking lustfully at the opposite sex   
pester   Annoy or bother someone   (Standard English?)
petrol   Gasoline   
piccaninny   Native child   (International colonial) W. Indian creole from Spanish 'pequeno'
piece of piss   Easy task   
piffle   Nonsense   
pig's arse!   I don't agree with you   
piker   Someone who doesn't want to fit in with others socially, leaves parties early   
pinch   To arrest   
pineapple, rough end of   Stick, sharp end of; misfortune   
pink (verb)   Shear closely (so close that the pink skin shows through the wool)   
pinkie   Wine - local - young (bit short of the Beaujolais mystique)   Term occurrs in song 'Ard tac', inter alia
pint pot   Tin-plated cooking/storage/container - specially made, not improvised like a billy   Sometimes fits snugly inside the quart pot - horsemen's model is oval to pack better in saddlebag
piss   Alcohol, usually beer   
piss turn, piss up   Boozy party   
piss weak   No good, gutless   
pissed   Drunk   
pissed off   Annoyed   
pivot on   Consider   
plant the foot (to the floorboards)   Drive fast   
plonk   Cheap wine (contemptuous contraction of "vin blanc")   
plurry   (alledged) pidgin for "bloody"   The Oxford blames this one on the New Zealanders and Maoris?
poddy dodger   Cattle rustler   Strictly, someone pinching unbranded calves from careless neighbours
poker machine, pokies   Slot machine or fruit machine but with playing card pips   
polly   Politician   
pom, pommy   English person   Imperfect rhyming slang = pomegranate - 'immy-granate'
pommy bastard   An Englishman   
poofter   Homosexual   
port   Suitcase (portmanteau)   Not a Sydney term - common everywhere else
possie   Position   
postie   Postman, mailman   
pot   285 ml glass of beer (Victoria and Queensland)   And the Sydney Journalist's Club
pozzy   Position - get a good pozzy at the football stadium   
prad   A horse   (From Dutch 'paard')
prang   Accident or crash   
prezzy   Present, gift   
prog   Food   Old Englis, ex Norse
pub   Any hotel   
puddle   Wash soil in tubs or troughs for gold ('often preparatory to cradling')   
push   Group or gang of people, such as shearers   
putt-putt   Any small vehicle   

[codajastal]

QANTAS   Acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service   
quack   Doctor, especially if not very good   
quart pot   Tin-plated cooking/storage/container - specially made, not improvised like a billy   
quick smart   In a hurry   
quid, make a   Earn a living - "are you making a quid?"   
quid, not the full   Of low IQ   
quids   A lot of money   
rabbiter   Person trapping, poisoning or shooting rabbits for pay, bounty or skins   
rage   Party   
rainbow sneeze   Vomit   
rapt   Delighted, enraptured   
ratbag   Someone who does not behave properly   
raw prawn, to come the   To bullshit, to be generally disagreeable   
razoo   Fictitious coin, as "I haven't a brass razoo"   
reckon!   You bet! Absolutely!   
red poppy   The one at the top whom Aussies like to give a hard time   Tall poppy (syndrome)?
rego   Registration, as in car rego   
rellie   Family relative   
remittance man   (Generally) Englishman whose family are prepared to pay him to not to come home   
rhino   Money (real money, not the cockies' 'shinplasters'!)   
ridgy-didge   Original, genuine   
right   Okay ("she'll be right, mate")   
ring-in   Impostor, unauthorised   
ringer   Fastest sheep shearer   
ringer (Queensland)   Stockman, cattle drover (required to "ring, mill & circle cattle")   
ripper   Great, fantastic   
road train   Big truck with many trailers   
roly-poly   Australian tumbleweed   (roley-poley, rolly-polly)
roo   Kangaroo   
roo bar   Metal frame on front of vehicles to protect against kangaroo strikes   
root   Have sexual intercourse   
rooted   Tired   
ropable   Very ill-tempered or angry   
rotten   Drunk ("I went out last night and got rotten")   
rouseabout, rousie   General stationhand / non-shearing shed-hand   
RS   Lousy (rat shaZam!)   
rubbish   To criticize or tease   
rug up   Dress for warmth   
rum cull   Rich fool, an easy mark   17/18th c. London street slang
run   A station - a large country agricultural property   
ryebuck   Genuine, fair dinkum   
sack   To dismiss from a job   
sack   Bed: "Hit the sack" = go to bed   Also (usually a sleeping bag) "fart sack"
safe   Storage box/cupboard for food   See also Coolgardie safe
salute, aussie   Brushing flies away   
salvo   Member of the Salvation Army   
sandgroper   Resident of Western Australia; sand-burrowing desert insect   
sanger   A sandwich   
Sawbees   Brand of hand-shears used for shearing sheep   Spelling?
scallops   Fried potato cakes (Queensland and New South Wales), shellfish (elsewhere)   The shellfish often distinguished as "Tasmanian" scallops" ... except in Tasmania or Victoria
scheme   System or method (no negative connotation)   Or project ... I worked on the Snowy Mts Scheme in the '60s
school   Group of drinkers, each of whom buys a round   
schooner   Large beer glass (New South Wales, South Australia)   
scratchy   Instant lottery ticket   
screamer   Party lover; "two pot screamer" - somebody who gets drunk on very little alcohol   
scrub   Can be the same as the bush or it can mean areas in the country without many tall trees   
sea wasp   Deadly box jellyfish   
sealed road   Surfaced road   
see you in the soup   See you around   
selector   Farmer who was able to freely choose a small parcel of Government land   
semitrailer   Articulated truck   
septic   Disparaging term for an American ("septic tank" rhymes with "Yank")   
servo   Petrol station   
session   Lengthy period of heavy drinking   
SFA   Sweet f%$k All, precious little   Actually started as Sweet Fanny Adams: Frances Adams, murdered and chopped up, c. 1870 (RN term for canned meat!)
shark biscuit   Somebody new to surfing   
she'll be right!   Everything will be fine!   
she-oak   Tree (wood of which) vaguely resembling a European oak, the 'she' meaning inferi   Dead right - but don't try to explain that to a feminist ...
shed   Shearing shed - major structure on large wool property   Rung the shed', means shearing top tally for that property, that season
sheila   Female or woman   
shellacking   Complete defeat   
shinplasters   Cheque for wages (surreptiously baked to make paper brittle) .   Workers often wrapped them around their ankles, under their socks, to keep them moist and intact
shirty   To get upset or angry   
shivoo   Rowdy party (archaic)   
shonky   Unreliable   
shoot through   To leave or disappear in a hurry   
shout   Turn to buy - a round of drinks usually ("it's your shout")   
shove off!   Go away!   
sickie   Day off work ill, or malingering   
silk shirt on a pig   Something wasted   
silvertail   Well off, usually English, settler (European silvertail pigeon, contrasted with   
sink the boot   Go in hard   
skint   Broke   
skite   Boast, brag   
sky pilot   Minister, bush missionary (early 20th c.)   
slab   24 cans (tinnies) of beer, shrink-wrapped as a unit   
sleepout   House verandah converted to a bedroom   
slog   Hard work   
smoko   Smoke or tea break   
snag   Sausage   
snagger   Inexpert, slow or worn out shearer   
sook   Person or animal who is soft, tame, inoffensive   
spag bol   Spaghetti bolognese   
sparrow-fart   Dawn, first light   
spider (19th c.)   Brandy mixed with lemonade   
spider (20th c.)   Aerated soft drink plus ice cream (~ US 'soda'?)   NOT Sydney - lime soft drink + ice cream = 'Ice cream, lime & soda', no other spiders served
spieler   Carnival spruiker - con artist - swindler   (Originally a US term)
spit the dummy   Get very upset at something   
sport   More general way to refer to someone rather than a mate   
sprung   Caught doing something wrong   
spunk   A good looking person (of either sex)   
square   Honest, respectable   
square face   Gin (comes in square bottles)   
square off   Apologise and make reparations   
square up   Prepare to fight (as in boxing)   
squatter   Large landowner who originally occupied land as a tenant of the government   
squattocracy   Australian "old money" folk, who made their fortunes by being first on the scene   
stand   Shearing position, shearing job   
station   A big farm/grazing property   
sticky beak   Nosy person   
stinger   Deadly box jellyfish   
stockman   Station hand (rural worker) herding cattle   
stockwhip   Plaited leather lash on a (usually) cane handle used by stockmen and drovers   Plaiting and whipcraft are important Australian bush skills
stood   Shouted, paid for as a gift   
strewth!   It's the truth! An exclamation, often of surprise   
strides   Daks, trousers   
strike a light!   An exclamation, of surprise or as an intensifive   
strine   Australian slang and pronunciation   (Or-strine = Australian ... badly nasalised!)
stringybark   Shaggy-barked eucalypt, its timber (proverbially tough) or its bark used as roof   
stubby   375 ml bottle of beer   
stubby holder   Polystyrene insulated holder for a stubby   
stuff   Money, the payment for a job   (Capt. Of the Push / Cockies of Bungaree)
stuffed, I feel   I'm tired   
stuffed, I'll be   Expression of surprise   
sunbake   Sunbathe   
sunnies   Sunglasses   
surfies   People who go surfing - usually more often than they go to work!   
surfy   Surfing fanatic   
swag   Canvas-covered bedroll used in the outback or for camping (modern usage)   Traditionally, a swagman's belongings wrapped in a blanket and carried over or around the shoulders
swaggie   Swagman   Confuses non-Australians, since swag means 'loot from a crime' ... so, it was a convict colony ... ? (It also means something rolled up.)
swagman   Vagabond, rural tramp   
swimmers   Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria)   
t'other side   The northern island (mainland Australia) to a Tasmanian   Of course, they're 'down under down under ..."
tack (hard)   Work (hard)   Trans. From sailor's 'hard tack' - tough, hard biscuit?
take away food   Take-out food   
tall poppies   Achievers, often a disparaging term   Tall poppy (syndrome)?
tally   The number of shorn sheep attributed to individual shearers in a day   Transf. - a good result
tank   Dam or reservoir, as well as constructed water storage container   
tar   Stockholm tar, applied as first aid to sheep cut during shearing   
tar boy   Shearing shed hand patching up cut sheep   
tariff   Rate   
tart   Once a contraction of 'sweetheart', now more derogatory   
Taswegian   A person from Tasmania   
tea   Evening meal   
technicolour yawn   Vomit   
tee up   Organise or arrange   
telly   The television   
thingo   Thing, whatchamacallit, whomajigger, hooza meebob, doo velacki, thingamajig, wha   
this arvo   This afternoon   
thongs   Rubber sandals, flip-flops   
ticker   Watch   
tickets, to have on oneself   To have a high opinion of oneself   
tiger cat   Carnivorous marsupial, about domestic cat size   Related to extinct Tasmamian Tiger
tinny   Can of beer, small aluminium boat   
toad-skin   £1 banknote, from its green colour   Australian banknotes are each of different colours (and sizes)
togs   Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria)   
tongs   (Old-fashioned) Hand shears   Suggested by spring hinge (B-bow)?
too right!   Absolutely!   
top end   Far north of Australia   
top ender   Resident of the Northern Territory   
trap   Policeman, (later) mounted trooper   
triangle   Flogging frame   In convict settlements, 1788 - (~) 1860
trooper   Policeman (usually) on horseback   
trots   Runny stools, the shits   
truckie   Truck driver   
true blue   Dinkum, patriotic   
tucker   Food   
tucker-bag   Food bag   
turps   Turpentine or alcoholic drink   So-called 'Methylated Spirits' no longer is denatured with methyl alcohol, which is merely poisonous ... now uses turpentine, which is sickening
turps, hit the   Go on a drinking binge   
twit   Fool or idiot   
two-pot screamer   Someone who can't hold his liquor   
two-up   Traditional Australian heads/tails gambling game, played with 2 coins   
tyre   Australian and British spelling of "tire"   
underdaks   Underwear   
uni   University   
unit   Flat, apartment   
up a gumtree   In a quandary   
up north   New South Wales and Queensland, according to someone in Victoria   
up oneself   Have a high opinion of oneself - "he's really up himself"   
up the duff   Pregnant   
ute   Utility truck or vehicle   Australian 'invention' - Ford Australia (1928?)
vedgies   Vegetables   
vee dub   Volkswagen   
veg out   Relax in front of the TV (like a vegetable)   
Vegemite   Popular vegetable extract used as sandwich spread   Yeast extract - made from the 'lees' of beer-making!
vejjo   Vegetarian   
velvet   Highly profitable or advantageous   
waddy   Wooden club (waddi, waddie, wody, woodah &c)   Aboriginal word (Dharuk): wadi = tree, stick of wood
waffle   Nonsense   
wag   To skip school or work   
waggin' school   Playing truant   
waler   Bloke from New South Wales (also NSW breed of tough bush horse)   Not 'whaler'
walkabout   Lengthy walk away from it all   
walkabout, it's gone   It's lost, can't be found   
wallaby track, on the   To wander from place to place in search of work (archaic)   
walloper   Copper, policeman   
waltz matilda   To carry a swag   Auf den walz (mit Mathilde) Mathilde is blanket roll or tool roll in German
wattle   Acacia, common Australian species of (typically) shrub   The original wattle - so named because it was used to build wattle & daub dwellings in Sydney's first settlement, was not acacia, but callicoma serratifolia, which had yellow globular flowers and serrated leaves. Early settlers were no botanists and they thought similar acacias were same genus ...
weatherboard   Wooden house   Strictly: a specific pattern of lapped horizontal wooden cladding
West Island   Australia, to a New Zealander   
Wet, the   Rainy season in northern Australia   
wether   Castrated male sheep   
whack   Fair share, agreed deal   Turns up in a few songs - old English word
wharfie   Dockworker   (Stevedore)
whinge   Complain and carry on unnecessarily   
whips (of)   Lots (of)   
white ant (noun)   Termite   
white ant (verb)   Undermine or sabotage   
white pointers   Topless (female) sunbathers or type of large shark   
whomajigger   Term for person or thing whose actual name one can't remember   
willy-nilly   Small dust twister or erratic   More commonly "willy willy" - a couple of citiatons of williy nilly in Aus. Nat'l Dict. Aboriginal words (Yinji-Barndi) - 'wili wili'
Wimmera   West Victorian region (characterised by wimmera rye grass)   
wobbly   Disturbing, unpredictable behaviour, as in "throw a wobbly"   
wog   Flu or trivial illness   
wog   Mediterranean or Middle European migrant - derogatory   
Wolseleys   Machine shears (inventor, Fred Wolseley, went on to make cars ... in England)   (Assisted by his shears mechanic ... Herbert Austin ... who then made his own cars!)
wombat   Somebody who eats, roots and leaves (see also root)   
woomera   Stick used by Aborigines to throw spears   
woop woop   Invented name for any small unimportant town - "he lives in Woop Woop"   
wowser   Straight-laced person, prude, puritan, spoilsport   
XXXX   Pronounced Four X, brand of beer made in Queensland   And there's no truth to the story that Queenslanders just can't spell BEER
yabber   Talk (a lot)   Probably Aboriginal ... and/or pidgin from jabber
yabby   Small freshwater crayfish   
yahoo   Noisy and unruly person   
yahooing   Boisterous behaviour   
yakka, yakker   Hard work, an Aboriginal term   (Yagari language -'yaga')
yank   American regardless of location   
yank tank   An American car   
yankee shout   A round of drinks in which everyone pays his own   
yeo   Ewe, female sheep   Scots dialect ... also ewie or yowie (not the aboriginal forest monster!)
yewy   U-turn in traffic ("chuck a yewy at the next traffic lights")   I've always spelled it: U-ey ... but I'm a bit of a pedant!
yobbo   Uncouth, aggressive person   Old Cockney 'backspell' slang: yob = boy
yonks   Ages, a long time   
youse   Plural of you (by the grammatically challenged)   
zarucker   Police trooper   (Appears in Manifold's "The Death of Ned Kelly"_
zebra crossing   Broad-striped pedestrian roadway crossing   
zed   Australian and British pronunciation of "Z"   
zeds   Pertaining to sleep (zzz)   
zonked   Exhausted, rooted   

[noworries]

Oz???...were it all so simple. Sure, it's to do with colloquial language and the way Skippies say Ozstralia for Australia and how you can get Oz out of that. But it's more complex....it's about the fantasy of the place, it's about Ross Wilson

....it's about intellectual links to Baum's Wizard, and Marvellous Land of Oz, it's about how we're all Munchkins here, it's about Sydney really being The Emerald City and how we all have our personal antipodean Yellow Brick Roads leading to a magic place we could never have imagined (bit like Albion Park), and how the upside-down  country is full of Nome Kings furging up our dreams.......Oz...it's just a state of mind, you know...as the bloke from Woy Woy might well have said.


PS Come and get it quick, 'cos it's sad but 'ol Oz ain't going to be here much longer...

[yamahonkawazuki]

Interesting find

[john]

Coda's list can't be all true.

That's one old school song.

Is there really a yellow brick road meaning behind calling it Oz?  The land of mystery and strange animals?

[yamahonkawazuki]

I always pronounced it "Aw-stray-lee-ah" and so "aw-see".

Far be it from me to tell a peoples how to pronounce themselves, so Ozzy it is from now on. 


Accent really does play a major role in pronunciation, so you can't rightly blame anyone.  I pronounce Honda "Hahn-duh".  I've heard Britains pronounce it "Hawn-dah".  Which is right?  Only the man who has the name can say.

Like, we've all seen .gif file extensions, right?  How is it pronounced?  G like "Guss" and "if" makes "gif", right?  Nope.  According to the person who developed the format, it's a "jif"...  Like the peanut-butter.

The famous American M1-Garand rifle.  "Gah-rand", right?  Nope.  "Gare-and" like the word "errand" with a G in front.

2nd the accents. like Canadians pronounce about, ive heard aboat or aboot. whats right in one place may not be in another

[codajastal]

Coda's list can't be all true.

It is absolutely 100% true John

[john]

Coda's list can't be all true.

It is absolutely 100% true John

Banana bender is not on that list.  You surely must have heard that one a few hundred times.

(thinly veiled poke)

[Kijona]

Because, like The Wizard of Oz, Australia is f%$king weird and everyone is on drugs.

[noworries]

....and more, drift back into the 60s and Richard Nedville and Oz magazine and the incipient hippy movements and a time when language was definitely a joyous thing to toy with...

http://visualmelt.com/OZ-Magazine-covers


...and then the Oz movie of about 1976....(off ya go to YT)....all lending strength to an understanding of this fantasy outpost of the British Empire as being a wonderful magical place called Oz.....

and, oh so sad, the phantasmagorical substance of the Oz construct begins to slip and slide away in a modern world of sloppy politicians and internet and globalization and a migrant intake flushed with their own level of multicultural understandings - together with an unstoppable flood of Euro eco refugees - so that never on a Summer's day do you hear Codsie's archival Australian lingo spouted on the street....now it's a interminable babble of non-intergratable world language......and Oz shimmers and fades into a postmodern dog-eat-dog irrelevancy.


PS...dammit! even the Oz magazine archives have seemingly vanished  on the net...case proven.

John...do come visit afore its all gone.

[codajastal]

Coda's list can't be all true.

It is absolutely 100% true John

Banana bender is not on that list.  You surely must have heard that one a few hundred times.

(thinly veiled poke)

Umm yes it is John, Put on your glasses old man

[john]

Umm yes it is John, Put on your glasses old man

Oh damn.  I guess I am going blind.

I think globalization and our plugged-in society has eroded some of the local culture found in places.  And that is sad.  I believe society in our country has become more homogenous, so I suppose noworries has a point.

The real question is do you others see the same thing down there?

[noworries]

"Yer in!!!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PfDro1UGUo